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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Thursday February 19,
2009 A
service of Johnston Enterprises, KIS Futures and American Farmers &
Ranchers Mutual Insurance Company!
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-- Ouch! Cattle Markets Take a Beating This Week
-- Water Bill Tabled in Oklahoma House Ag Committee
-- Livestock Industry Stakeholders Come Together on HB1450- and Like
the Result
-- Full House Okays HB2151 in Slapdown on HSUS
-- Cattle on Feed Numbers Due Out Friday Afternoon
-- OACD Meeting Sunday Through Tuesday in Midwest City
-- Oklahoma Grain and Stockers Heading to DC
-- Let's Check the Markets!
Howdy Neighbors! Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. We are pleased to have American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance Company as a regular sponsor of our daily update- click here to go to their AFR web site to learn more about their efforts to serve rural America! It is also great to have as an annual sponsor on our daily email
Johnston Enterprises- proud to be serving agriculture across
Oklahoma and around the world since 1893. For more on Johnston
Enterprises- click
here for their website! If you have received this by someone forwarding it to you, you are welcome to subscribe and get this weekday update sent to you directly by clicking here. | |
Ouch! Cattle Markets Take a Beating This Week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The cash
cattle markets in feedlot country are showing lower money this week- after
two weeks at $83, which has delivered huge losses to feedlot operators. It
has gotten worse this week, with Wednesday sales from $80 to $81. The
Texas Cattle Feeders Association reports in their Daily Volume Report that
about three thousand cattle sold for $81 and another 1,300 head went for
$80 in their area of Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. Typical losses we
have been hearing about with closeouts at this level range from $200 to
$300 per head. The equity in this sector of the Beef Cattle business is
being drained out quicker than a bath tub that has just been serviced with
Drano.
The OKC West Cattle Market in El Reno also reflected that pessimism on Wednesday, with yearling cattle dropping four to seven dollars per hundred, and calf trade off $1 to $4. Market Reporter Tina Colby summed it up well "Cattle futures lower again today after a sharp decline on Tuesday. Feeder futures and live cattle futures showing a 2 day 3.00-5.00 drop. To add fuel to the fire cash cattle sold 2.00-3.00 lower at 80.00-81.00 today. Boxed beef prices also sold on the negative side." Five to six hundred pound calves brought from $101 to $112 while yearlings weighing seven to eight hundred pounds came in from $$86.50 to $91.75. We have the full OKC West report linked below- the TCFA report we mentioned above is linked at the very bottom of our market links we have for you at the end of this email every day. Click here for the OKC West El Reno Market News Report from Wednesday February 18 | |
Water Bill Tabled in Oklahoma House Ag Committee ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The House Ag
Committee held their weekly Committee meeting on Wednesday evening, with
the House running about two hours behind schedule. Seven measures were on
the agenda, with six of them passing without a dissenting vote. The
seventh ended up being laid on the table. That was the measure that filled
the room on the fifth floor of the capital- HB 1439- The Water Basin
Protection Act offered by southeast Oklahoma lawmaker Brian Renegar.
This measure's purpose is to establish a precedent of Oklahoma charging a severance fee for water moved out of a water basin to be used for whatever purpose. This measure would be set in place in the anticipation that Oklahoma may be told by the Federal Court in Denver sometime in the near future that water from Southeast Oklahoma has to be allowed to be exported to Texas. If that occurs, this measure would keep the court from saying that no state fees could be applied to the water, because none exist for in state customers. Renegar indicated that there would be a grandfather clause for those who already have a permit to take water- they will not have to pay the fee that would be established. After discussion and lots of question from most members of the
committee, it was moved that the bill be tabled to give members more time
to study the proposal. The vote to table was approved by an eight to five
vote. Click here for our rundown of the weekly meeting of the Oklahoma House Ag Committee | |
Livestock Industry Stakeholders Come Together on HB1450- and Like the Result ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After the
major stakeholders were able to meet earlier this week, House Bill 1450,
offered by State Representative Ryan McMullen, sailed through the House Ag
Committee on Wednesday evening by a thriteen to nothing vote. It was a
Committee substitute from the original bill offered by McMullen.
The Southwest Oklahoma lawmaker told us that a variety of folks sat down and it was decided that lots of details about the color and types of cattle that were being brought to the sale barn was not as important as the ability of the sale barn to capture those cattle on video tape- as well as the faces of those who are bringing the cattle in and pictures of the trucks and trailers hauling the cattle to the market as well. After a meeting of sale barn representatives, the Cattlemen's Association and the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture- it was decided the thing to do was to provide an incentive to the Auction markets to buy video cameras for the ongoing surveillance on sale day. The measure that passed the House Ag Committee provides for a $1,000 tax credit to those auction markets that need video equipment and buy and install it. | |
Full House Okays HB2151 in Slapdown on HSUS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HB2151,
authored by House Ag Committee Chairman Don Armes, was passed out of the
full House on Wednesday by a final vote of 92 to 9. A similar measure,
Senate bill 454 and carried by Senator Mike Schulz, has passed the Senate
Ag Committee and awaits floor action in that body.
The House measure provides that the Legislature preempts all local laws regarding the care and handling of livestock. It also specifies that no political subdivisions in the state shall regulate the care and handling of livestock, and that such local legislation shall be void and unenforceable. The measure provides an exception for municipalities regulating the number and type of livestock in certain areas. The Oklahoma representative for the Humane Society of the US, Cynthia Armstrong, spoke against both the House and Senate measures during Committee consideration. Those comments found no sympathetic ears, as both measures have easily moved forward. Both Armes and Schulz have modified the original language to offer assurance to municipalities that they can still offer zoning regulations to keep farm animals from ending up in the backyard in the middle of town. Click here for a summary of the action on HB2151 to this point in the 2009 Legislative Session | |
Cattle on Feed Numbers Due Out Friday Afternoon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We have the
regular monthly cattle on feed report due out tomorrow afternoon at 2 PM
central time- after the cattle markets wrap up for the week. The Allendale
folks say that January Placements are expected to be 1.5% smaller than
last year. This represents the 6th month in a row of lower placements.
Cattle feeders continue to respond to significant losses on outgoing
cattle. Cattle placed in January will be marketed from June to September.
Allendale anticipates a Marketing total 8.4% smaller than January of 2008. Numbers finishing were lower this Jan due to lower placements in previous months. On top of that, cattle feeders delayed marketing of finished numbers. Marketings will remain mostly smaller in the coming months due to the smaller placement pace since March. Cattle on Feed total as of February 1 is the smallest total for that month in 5 years. Allendale's placement model suggests slaughters from feedlot cattle may remain below last year levels through June. | |
OACD Meeting Sunday Through Tuesday in Midwest City ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The 71st
Annual State Meeting of the Oklahoma Association of Conservation
Districts, cosponsored by the Oklahoma Conservation Commission, will be
held February 22-24 at the Reed Conference Center in Midwest City.
The theme for the 2009 meeting is "Planting Seeds for the Future- New Horizons Bring New Challenges." We have the agenda for the meeting linked below- Featured speakers will include Lt. Governor Jari Askins as well as J.D. Strong, the Oklahoma Secretary for the Environment. | |
Oklahoma Grain and Stockers Heading to DC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Oklahoma
Grain and Stocker Producers will once again send a delegation to
Washington D.C. for legislative visits Feb. 23-25. While there, the group
has appointments with both of the Oklahoma Senators, several members of
the Congressional delegation, as well as staff from both the House and
Senate agriculture committees. The group will also visit numerous
agricultural associations in the D.C. area for policy briefings and
information gathering. Fact-finding sessions are planned with the National
Cattlemen's Beef Association, American Farm Bureau, National Farmers Union
and U.S. Wheat Associates, among others.
"Agriculture represents less than 2 percent of the U.S. population and our voice seems insignificant at times, so we need to go and be heard," says Dean Keiffer, current OG&SP president and a member of the delegation that will be in Washington. "Agriculture accounts for 25 percent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and people need to know what's going on out here. There's very few left in Congress who still have their toe in agriculture. It's important that those of us from rural states like Oklahoma make the effort to go and be heard." Among those traveling to Washington next week for the group are OG&SP President Dean Keiffer, David Von Tunglen and Candace Krebs. | |
Our thanks to KIS Futures, Johnston Enterprises and AFR for their support of our daily Farm News Update. For your convenience, we have our sponsors' websites linked at the top of the email- check them out and let these folks know you appreciate the support of this daily email, as their sponsorship helps us keep this arriving in your inbox on a regular basis! We also invite you to check out our website at the link below to check out an archive of these daily emails, audio reports and top farm news story links from around the globe. | |
Let's Check the Markets! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here are some links we will leave in place on an ongoing basis- Click
on the name of the report to go to that link: | |
God Bless! You can reach us at the following: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
phone: 405-473-6144
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